Cunningham’s class proved to be financially worthwhile for him, too. “It was much better than writing a book. I made actual dough. It was almost too good to be true,” he told me. That was until last summer. In May, just a month after Craftsy was acquired by NBCUniversal, the company announced to instructors that it would be switching its main revenue model from a la carte class sales to a subscription model. All instructors had to sign new contracts that figured their pay based on minutes watched rather than a percentage of each class purchased or their classes would be retired. The day I spoke to Cunningham he had just received a royalty check. “My Craftsy income has fallen way off,” he said. “My check was about $60 or something.” Cunningham, who has been working in the quilting industry for 40 years, describes what’s happened to Craftsy as a “tediously ordinary story.”
“Corporate people just want to squeeze every dollar, but it’s difficult to monetize this movement,” he says. “It’s cultural impulses at war.”
A Shift in Model and Sale to NBC
Last month NBCUniversal rebranded Craftsy Unlimited as Bluprint, a video-on-demand subscription available for $14.99 a month. Some of NBCUniversal’s past attempts at video-on-demand subscriptions have failed. Last year the media conglomerate shut down Seeso, a comedy streaming service that failed to gain enough subscribers, and in 2014 it launched and shut down Radius, a $10 per month fitness video-on-demand service for the same reason. Amanda Lotz, professor of media studies at the University of Michigan and an expert in television and media companies says about video-on-demand, “We’re still in the Wild West of how to price these things, how to bundle content, and figuring out what people want.”
Bluprint launched with several exclusive series including Re:Fashion, an upcycling show starring actress Marcy Harriell of the sewing blog Ooonaballoona; The Stitch Dimension, a yarn show starring actress and knitter Kirsty Glass; and True Up, a quilting lifestyle show starring Angela Walters. All of these shows are what CEO and co-founder John Levisay described in a conference call with instructors on July 16 as “lean back entertainment content” intended to bring people into Bluprint and funnel them into classes. Craftsy.com remains and a la carte classes and craft supplies are still available on that site. When Craftsy shifted to a subscription service, first called Craftsy Unlimited and now Bluprint, every one of the twelve instructors I spoke said they saw a similarly dramatic drop in income as Cunningham, and most were feeling disappointed.
Crochet designer Kim Werker believes this is the right move for the company, even though it means a financial hit for instructors like herself. “My income has also pretty much been cut in half, but that doesn’t mean that this wasn’t the obvious right direction for Craftsy. Their goal is to reach the most people possible, and to convert the most paying viewers as possible. They have a vast catalog of in-depth classes to build on, and I’m not sure I see the point in going on building that without building out and differently. And we all know from more than a decade of music streaming that streaming is a beast for creators, or in our case instructors,” she said.
Communication Breakdown
Even so, she acknowledges that there’s been a breakdown in communication between Craftsy and the instructor community over the last year. There was a time when interacting with instructors was a company priority. In January 2016 Craftsy held an instructor summit, inviting instructors to Denver for a weekend of expert business and marketing training and listening intently to their concerns and questions. The event hasn’t been repeated. Instructors told me that now they have difficulty getting in touch with Craftsy to get their questions answered. In January of 2018 Craftsy informed instructors that the company would no longer be actively moderating the private Facebook group for instructors.
“Instructors used to feel like they were really part of Craftsy.com. We felt less like contractors and more like part of the company,” said Kate Colleran, whose first class, 3 Block, 30 Quilts, went live in May 2014.
“That’s gone away.” One instructor who wished to remain anonymous said, “I just don’t get the feeling that they care anymore. I think we’re being ignored. They’re off to the ‘oooh, shiny thing!’ and we’re no longer shiny.”
When the new contract was issued last summer the payment structure wasn’t the only significant change; it also extended the exclusivity clause. The original contract gave Craftsy the right of first refusal for a class on a subject substantially the same as the one presented in their Craftsy class before taking it to a competitor. The amended Craftsy contract included a “first look” clause granting Craftsy the right to look over any video the instructor would like to make on any subject at any time, not just those videos within the same subject area as their Craftsy class.
Many instructors negotiated this clause out of their reissued contracts before signing, but Cheryl Arksion chose not to go through that stress. She decided to retire her class. “I could see that the organization was changing and I could see the writing on the wall as far as how they were treating instructors,” she said. Plus, now she knew she had other options for creating a class herself. In 2010, when Craftsy launched, it was difficult for independent creators to self-publish online classes. Now, Arkison says, it’s not so hard. “The internet has changed. It’s so much easier now to produce an online class yourself on Teachable or Skillshare. As an instructor, you don’t need Bluprint or Creativebug or one of these companies to do it.
Future Promises
In the conference call with instructors Levisay acknowledged that revenue has dipped. “We hope to continue to bring a lot more people to the platform and percentage payments will go up. That’s the goal. The beautiful thing about the way this has been structured is that its mutually beneficial from a revenue perspective.”
But some instructors have their doubts that the content they created under the old model will prove compelling enough to the new Bluprint customers. One instructor I spoke with noted that Craftsy classes are very different from the Bluprint exclusive series. “I worry that what we made under the Craftsy model isn’t snackable and that’s what people want on Bluprint, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. They’re channel surfing through the quilting content, as opposed to before when they said, ‘yes, I’m definitely interested in this and I’m buying this class.’ It’s going to take a whole lot more people to earn the same amount of money,” she said.
![](/CIAAugust2018/0814_Craftsy-Blueprint-Pinable-Title-imageT.jpg")
alt="Changes at Craftsy Have Eroded Instructors’ Faith in the Platform">
This story really sums it up well. Corporate Conglomerate takes small, well run, highly respected company, chews it up, spits out the people, drives it into the ground and obliterates its soul– along with that of the founder and CEO. I wish that I had done as Cheryl did and retired the class when I had the chance. John Levisay, I hope you read this and understand that most of your instructors feel just like I do. You built a great company with great people and then destroyed it all with one greedy decision.
Please go read the news stories about the history of Craftsy. Craftsy was a venture-capital fantasy from the start–go read about the hundreds of millions of venture capital raised for it. It was never a “small company” in the sense of somebody with a love of craft or making. Its “soul” was to produce whatever category of instructional videos they thought would be the most profitable. Which the company has never been, according to what I’ve read about it. Which is why it was sold to NBC. And why it just sucks that all these instructors are getting the shaft after believing that Craftsy had their best interests at heart.
You are correct, Ann. Craftsy was a venture capital funded business and, as far as I know, it was never profitable. At some point venture investors need to recoup on their investments so a sale was inevitable unless they went public.
This is nonsense. I have purchased 197 own forever classes and 2032 patterns. All that money! No company, even NBC purchases a company that has never made money. 2 weeks ago they even took my yearly enrollment of $71. I am calling for all other subscribers who bought own forever classes to help me create a class action lawsuit and take some of that 300 million plus they got for it back
Peggy
I’m in the same situation as you are. I’ve exactly the same number of classes as you have and god knows how many patterns. Each year it cost me more and more as the £ weakened against the $. I can’t think what I’ve paid. I bought all the classes with a legacy that was left to me, if just been medically retired and I thought this was a way to occupy my time and stave off worsening depression.
I feel sick now. I’d love to join a class action but I’m in the UK.
This has made me ill since I read it.
I know little about investments OR big buisiness. What I do know a lot about is the type of people who LOVED The ability to learn my only craft. Quilting. You have 2 options in my area af small tourist towns along the great lakes & I mean small to the point of being almost a micro town. We can go to THE only long arm quilts store & take lessons that last maybe 2 hours & pay $300 to learn very little & nothing about using long throat domestic machines with a quilt package & capabilities in them. This is incidentally the only place teaching the quilting specifically at all. Or, you may go to Joanns which I can hardly beleive is not liquidated & gone as they are still located in their original store inside a derelict mall from the late 70s thay only has 1 other stores open withing in its entirety. You can take a substandard class at joanns that again is approximately 2 hrs & make a small project of the most basic techniques for up to $300 & they only offer a single class monthly alternating between Athens completely inexperienced 1st Tim’s 1uiltt & the following month you will take a class claiming to be intermediate but is still a beginner level skil class. No paper peicing, no applique & NO free motion. I too have invested heavily in own forever classes that the instructed were probably compensated at 25% of the sale if they were lucky. I wish they HAD gone public because I think that instructors & fabric designers would have stepped forward to create something amazing out of something that was good & became cheapened when the magnate bought controlling interest in. Now I worry that we will get as littlenotice that they will no longer support app access to our classes but that they wont even give us the option to purchase a physical copy at cost of burning a dvd or CD. I would be happy to pay for a writable disk for each & that would probably come to $100 just in digital disks. I am a dinasaur who cant use basic office programs so a zip drive would just be an annoyance to my husband ever time I wanted to work along with the instructor & I seriously doubt I have storage space on either device I own TO store that many hours of video if they were to offer you a period of time to download them to a zip. I dont know where this will shake out but I DO know that it has impacted this disabled american more than they would care enough to count the cost of. They dont really care how anyone feels as long as they are making money & when advertisers on air time bring in so much more we are less than the little people we are the invisible!
I purchased 68 forever classes and many patterns. Today, I can’t open my videos. I get a warning message that says “this connection is no longer private”. “This website may be trying to steal your personal and financial information.“
Sally, after I read your post I immediately logged in and was given the same “this connection is not private” message. What happens now? I only had 24 classes and I feel I have been duped. I sent an email, but now I wonder if they will respond and explain what’s going on.
Hi, I also purchased classes from craftsy. I have been sick for quite a long time, thank God I’ve recovered! Much to my dismay I see no more Blueprint/Craftsy, Is there way to obtain DVD of classes I’ve purchased?
Barbara, The Craftsy Bluprint site has been acquired by another company and you should be able to go to the regular craftsy or bluprint site and log in as usual. They say that in September they will be available to sell classes again. For now, you are still able to view any classes you have previously purchased.
Ann, I just saw one of their commercials, thank God and websites like this one, I did my research “before” delving into this, I WILL pass on the info and on joining this as well. Awesome job of alerting the public. Thank you very much.
I would like to get in to my enrolled classes …..they say I am enrolled but I am given an error message and asked to retry …..do I have to reinstall?
Hi, we are not affiliated with Bluprint. If you need customer service from Bluprint, please contact them directly.
ATTENTION: MB: You say they will be selling classes again? I don’t get the letters from Bluprint despite being a subscriber. Can you tell me whether there will be a store where we members will get free shipping? Thanks for your answer to this question.
Hi Leslie M, I don’t get direct emails either. If you go to the website, there are a couple of letters from the former CEO and then a few more from the new one. That is the only place I have gotten my information. Please pull up the site, and read what they say. There are 3 or 4 letters there.
Barb R , am now getting any & all emails from the “new craftsy” have not received an email fr bluprint since they informed me the “grant news ” that they heard us” & have brought the same rafts brand back & that it will be managed & owned by TNN . That as of Sept 1st, THAT is where I should access the patterns & classes in my library & that from this point on that is where I should direct any questions. I did not receive an email that bluprint would continue to manage & maintain their current app after that point. It did not tell me that THE BLUPRINT app would no longer be in existence but they certainly left me with that impression by redirecting me to TNN’s craftsy on Sept 1st to veiw my library. Of course TNN would want to fire it up with an instant million + members to bill & in bluprints sudden absence access, that would do it. Maybe some would walk away on principle but many would figure if they were ‘in for a penny they were in for a pound ” & pay the monthly or yearly membership fee to have something to show for their blueprint purchases rather than nothing. I have not been told what the membership agreement or fees will be. My guess is that we will be soon receiving another email with a link that has all of that info. You may want to look on your blueprint app or messages within as well as your account profile to see if there is any I go there. I have noticed on this craft industry alliance thread, that we are not ALL getting all of the same emails. There have been some mentioned by others that I did not get. i was a monthly subscriber rather than a yearly one although I was a 6 year member. Maybe monthly & anual subscriptions are getting different communications? Who knows but log in to see if you find it within their site. If not, I could try to forward mine if you wish.
I agree but I find it difficult to beleive the BLUPRINT lost $! They didmt just sell classes & patterns that only had to be produced a single time but they sold a huge line of fabrics & products that were exclusive to them as well as taking a slice of profit from the instructors sales for their personal designs & products. I own at least $3,000 worth of boundless fabric that I haven’t even used & no telling what I have used. The screwed their instructors twice ovet while profiting from it not to mention millions of subscriber. Now they have profited by selling it all to TNN & wisely they are NOT using the BLUPRINT brand but are calling it the new Craftsy & we either have to start up a new membership with them to access our assets or lose access to it all. I have no doubt that in doing so, NBCU lawyers have found a loophole that leaves them able to walk away without any accountability even now & with another giant media outlet buying I have little trust.
“we either have to start up a new membership with them to access our assets or lose access to it all …”
Teresa, why do you say that? The company sent an email explaining that we will keep all our purchased classes and patterns. I used mine today. Have you been blocked from your classes?
I have all my classes and have also used them over the last few weeks. And from what I have read I will continue to have access to all my classes.
Barb R , am now getting any & all emails from the “new craftsy” have not received an email fr bluprint since they informed me the “grant news ” that they heard us” & have brought the same rafts brand back & that it will be managed & owned by TNN . That as of Sept 1st, THAT is where I should access the patterns & classes in my library & that from this point on that is where I should direct any questions. I did not receive an email that bluprint would continue to manage & maintain their current app after that point. It did not tell me that THE BLUPRINT app would no longer be in existence but they certainly left me with that impression by redirecting me to TNN’s craftsy on Sept 1st to veiw my library. Of course TNN would want to fire it up with an instant million + members to bill & in bluprints sudden absence access, that would do it. Maybe some would walk away on principle but many would figure if they were ‘in for a penny they were in for a pound ” & pay the monthly or yearly membership fee to have something to show for their blueprint purchases rather than nothing. I have not been told what the membership agreement or fees will be. My guess is that we will be soon receiving another email with a link that has all of that info. You may want to look on your blueprint app or messages within as well as your account profile to see if there is any I go there. I have noticed on this craft industry alliance thread, that we are not ALL getting all of the same emails. There have been some mentioned by others that I did not get. i was a monthly subscriber rather than a yearly one although I was a 6 year member. Maybe monthly & anual subscriptions are getting different communications? Who knows but log in to see if you find it within their site. If not, I could try to forward mine if you wish.
Hi Teresa. I wonder if it makes a difference if you are a Bluprint subscriber? I know it shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean anything, does it?!
I’ve never belonged to Bluprint and I’ve never used their app. I use a laptop and very very rarely my tablet. I log on at Craftsy.com and it automatically transfers me to the Bluprint site and all my classes and patterns are there, in the “forever” folder.
I’m a skeptic by nature, but I’m withholding judgement until they roll out the new site. I have a feeling
we’ll be fine.
Teresa, like you, I thought that we would sign in on “mybluprint.com” as we did when Craftsy was sold. I tried signing in on Monday but received a message that username/password was not valid and I needed to register for an account. I got angry thinking I had lost everything, but, then I tried craftsy.com and was able to log in and all my classes/patterns were there. Use craftsy.com, that’s where you will find all the classes you paid for.
I cannot remember if I subscribed to any crafty classes, how do I access those ?
I am interested in The blueprint new platform. Please keep me informed
Hi Jan,
Just log in to Craftsy/bluprint – if you had classes, they will be there. If you did not – they won’t. This site is not affiliated with the company – we are just seamstresses and crafters like you. I am a customer of Craftsy then Bluprint. I do not receive any emails from the company. There are letters posted to all on the site. I just check in from time to time, read the letters, access my classes and look to see if any new classes I want are available. The letters say, that they will be ready to sell classes in Sept. 2020.
Catherine Balsam-Schwaber, a former Mattel executive, is the general manager of Craftsy. The Wall Street Journal had this to say about Mattel management:
“According to current and former executives, Mattel’s executives needed to be thinking up better toys. Instead, they became entangled in a culture that valued endless meetings and long PowerPoint presentations,”
Paul Ziobro and Chelsey Dulaney report in the Wall Street Journal.
She was hired just a few months before this article in the Wall Street Journal about the Mattel executive team was written and her tenure there lasted two years after. Although I don’t know anything about her, I don’t think she can be blamed for the culture at Mattel before she came on board.
I have had a bad taste in my mouth since this thing started. I have loved Craftsy and the instructors seem like friends. When the initial change occurred, in inadvertently subscribed to blue print (clicked on the wrong button). The charge was 16.00 and change. When I saw that I asked to have the charge removed that I prefer to pay for the class I want as I need it. They refused to refund the charge saying I had not called soon enough. They keep badgering people to subscribe. I see now the cost had reduced by 50%. Serves them right. Just goes to show you how those chasing the almighty dollar can destroy a delightful learning experience. I really am afraid that they may not be able to stay afloat with this new “platform”.
I signed up for a year @$120, it renewed at that price and I discovered it had went down to $59.99. I was refunded $40. I will be cancelling after this year is up. I feel that I have overpaid at this point and the quality of the cake classes isn’t nearly as good now. I loved watching the pros create things I didn’t understand. I could never afford to take a class in person and thought it was just the best thing ever to do so at my leisure.
You are so right, I made the mistake of subscribing with the same email address on Paypal and via the App on my phone, I assumed they were both linked. They charged be on both Paypal and my Phone when I complained to them, they said I should try and get my money back from Apple. I knew that was not going to happen. So they were happy to charge me 2ce. After that incident, I left the platform for good
While I feel bad for what happened to you, I can’t help but feel you gave up too easy. I had a similar thing happen to me and when they told me I couldn’t have what I was due, I argued with them. They are much bigger now, and in some ways better, some ways worse, but they do not have time to deal with complaints. Use this to your advantage and don’t give up and if there is merit to what you are asking for, you will get it on the second or third request.
While I was able to retrieve “mine forever” patterns from Craftsy/Blueprint, one change was obviously apparent: I was (& still am) unable to view most of them on their website.
When I click on my library, all most of all of “my patterns” have a blank view of my pattern/s and only a title of them. In order to view my patterns, I am now forced to download each one individually.
That doesn’t sound so bad but it actually is.
I soon learned it was not is as easy as it sounds: just click download?
What I learned is I ran out of space on my tablet very quickly, which required me to spend money (borrow money) to buy additional storage space in order to retreive & keep “my patterns”.
Second thing that was not easy about getting access to “my patterns” was it became VERY TIME CONSUMING!
INn order to download “my patterns”, I have to go through my library and download each pattern one by one, choose where I want them to be downloaded to, and type the name of each and every one of “my patterns”, then go back and re-open it from that new location just to be able to see what pattern it actually was.
It sounds simple enough but it truly isnt simple at all, considering I have 1000’s of patterns that Ihave to do that to, one at a time.
If anyone knows a faster method of retrieving OUR 1000’s of patterns, please inform me/us on how to do that, as I will be forever grateful.
Thanks. I have been trying to renew my membership to Craftsy/Bluptint, but can’t get to the site and connect. I got an email to renew, since my credit card had expired. Tried to add credit card, etc, but no results. I don’t like the new Bluprint. I have decided not to renew. If I want any more quilting and knitting classes, I will do it on a 50% offer.
I just want to know when I should download all of the classes I purchased over the years because the entire site is going away. I don’t see Blueprint lasting. Is anyone subscribing? I didn’t.
I knew we could download a lesson or two but was not aware that whole classes could be. I have over 200 and wish I would have purchased the DVDs instead.
I would love to know the answer to this as well. I have SO many classes that I “purchased”.
does anyone know if there really IS a way to download them in entirety should bluprint go away?
I am a Malaysia and have been a subscriber to Craftsy for at least 5 years now.
Now with Bluprint i can’t subscribe to any classes at all?!
Me too
If you click on the class, you can download the individual videos inside each class. That’s what I’m in the process of doing since NBC has decided to cut off Bluprint.
cindy – can you explain the steps to download your already purchased FOREVER OWN classes?
of course, I am able to download the resource materials, but when I click on the classes (that I own), I do not see an option to download the individual videos…
I would appreciate it if you could share your procedure.
thanks so much.
If you go to Owned Forever Videos, click on the class you want, all of the individual sections should open with a download symbol in the lower right hand corner. I will say it’s taken me three days to download three classes, but I live in Mexico and my internet isn’t great.
I am using my iPad, so I accessed the classes via the bluprint app.
Jodi, my understanding only Apple devices can download classes.
Cindy, I am on an apple, I opened one of my classes and I do not see a download symbol anywhere, right, left, middle… Can you email me a screen shot of what you are talking about? I have well over a 100 classes and only just found out today by happenstance that they are shutting down. So unfortuneate
https://shop.mybluprint.com/account/class-library
I used this address to access my classes. They are there but I’m not sure yet how to download all info for each class
Once I download them on my Ipad, where can I find them? Sorry for the basic question, but I have no idea where they are saved. Thanks!
Once you download sections of your classes on your Ipad or android device it appears you still need to go through the app to access them. I don’t see a way, at this point, to transfer the downloaded videos to a storage device.
That’s a shame. Thank you for your reply.
I too purchased a lot of (mostly art and photography)courses (50+) and unfortunately haven’t even viewed most of them. I was hoping to do so when I retire at the very least. Now, surprised to hear Blueprint is closing, I sent them a message expressing my concern since I have invested a lot over the years, and said I want to make sure we find a way for me to keep them. I suggested I would be happy to accept DVDs if possible (some were sold with this option), and or possibly downloads, though this might create a storage issue as I don’t currently have room on my notebook and don’t pay for additional space on Drop Box or cloud service. Hopefully they will do the right thing and make sure we are all fully comped for what we purchased and have there now.
I generally don’t buy annual subscriptions or things that I can’t download anymore as this same thing happened to me once before with a tech learning company. That company didn’t want to own the problem at first, as they had bought it from another company, but I convinced them to not just let it go, and they uploaded the ones I had purchased to Drop Box where I had access. Eventually I downloaded to my computer, but it is quite a project when you have a lot, and if you happen to lose then you most likely won’t be able to ask for another download.
In the case of Blueprint, the statement I read made it sound like they might be offering compensation in some form, but I’m guessing that applies to those who bought the subscription. In either case, I frankly would rather have the courses, but we’ll see… it could be enough money to look at other options for learning.
I too purchased a lot of (mostly art and photography)courses (50+) and unfortunately haven’t even viewed most of them. I was hoping to do so when I retire at the very least. Now, surprised to hear Blueprint is closing, I sent them a message expressing my concern since I have invested a lot over the years, and said I want to make sure we find a way for me to keep them. I suggested I would be happy to accept DVDs if possible (some were sold with this option), and or possibly downloads, though this might create a storage issue as I don’t currently have room on my notebook and don’t pay for additional space on Drop Box or cloud service. Hopefully they will do the right thing and make sure we are all fully comped for what we purchased and have there now.
I generally don’t buy annual subscriptions or things that I can’t download anymore as this same thing happened to me once before with a tech learning company. That company didn’t want to own the problem at first, as they had bought it from another company, but I convinced them to not just let it go, and they uploaded the ones I had purchased to Drop Box where I had access. Eventually I downloaded to my computer, but it is quite a project when you have a lot, and if you happen to lose then you most likely won’t be able to ask for another download.
In the case of Blueprint, the statement I read made it sound like they might be offering compensation in some form, but I’m guessing that applies to those who bought the subscription. In either case, I frankly would rather have the courses, but we’ll see… it could be enough money to look at other options for learning.
Also, to my knowledge there isn’t a way for us to download the courses, only the patterns. Has this changed, or is there a way I’m not aware of?
I’d like to download the classes I purchased, too. I don’t see Blueprint staying afloat for many years, and no, I did not subscribe. The cost may not be excessive, but with *everything* going subscription-based I just have to choose a few things to suit my budget. I can’t buy all the subscription things!
I’ve also been looking at the site periodically, and frankly I don’t see much new content being offered.
There is no option to download them. That company will have to provide a way to allow us to access our Own Forever classes.
Android users can download using the app, go to Owned Forever Videos, click on the class you want, all of the individual sections should open with a download symbol in the lower right hand corner
They can then be viewed via the app.
I have a free online pass for a class. Unable to retrieve it
Hi Nancy, We are not affiliated with Craftsy (now called Bluprint). If you need customer service from Bluprint please reach out to them directly. Thank you.
I loved the friendly vibe and warm aesthetic of Craftsy. I didnt like the new name “Bluprint” and the new aesthetic, which was cold, generic, and unoriginal. Im not at all surprised that the soulless cogs of NBC came up with this garbage.
I did subscribe for several years & am desolate that they have closed with only a couple weeks notice. I was promised that they are working on a solution to make sure that we all have copies of out own forever classes & patterns but that they had not yet figured out or maybe decided is more accurate how they will get that to us & what format it will be. I am nor ignorant although I am the least tech savvy person I know however I am aware tha yd uf they have the storage & capabilities for on demand viewingof any & all of their content, it is as simple as burning copies to dvd or better yet to CD so that we can print class materials & simply hit a few buttons for all of the items in our class/pattern libraries. They are quite aware that no one has their own massive mainframe computer to store that many large files & I would be more than happy to sign any paperwork they need in order to legally bind me from reproducing or using it in a commercial class or tutorial to protect their exclusive proprietary rights & would even pay for each digital CD at cost of course, to have them burn a personal copy for me. I beleive that they will do such but maybe I am naive. I knew when they began adding to many new topics they were overreaching into to many markets but when you think about what they charge (millions) for a few seconds of primetime advertising on their networks which is where the big $ is, this was inevitable. They had no interest in the orrigional mission statement not crafting of any kind their sole interest was in the almighty $ & I wonder if bluprint would be growing strong for many years had they never sold controllinginterest. The instructors & we little people are left paying for it. I will post when I am informed just how they plan to get our content to us because they definately wont be paying to maintain the app which I still am able to reliably navigate & watch without issues. Stay tuned Janet!
Why do the smalll businesses sell out to the big conglomerates – same reason – greed!
Keep in mind that Bluprint/Craftsy was funded by venture capital from the very beginning. Those investors had to recoup on their investment at some point so the company was going to have to either be sold or go public. I’m not sure you could every qualify Craftsy as a small business. It was more like a start-up.
John Levisay sold this company for 230 million. He is still ceo. He is therefore responsible. They won’t even respond to requests to give us our class videos on permanent media. I was promised by Craftsy, IN WRITING that I could go ahead and purchase classes for later use. I purchased 146 of them. Others have purchased more.
And your point is?
This is ‘just a group’ of other crafters such as yourself…
We are not “just” anything so I am not sure why you decided to troll this specific line of articles & reactions or comments. At the end of the day I am a United States citizen who entered into a mutually legally binding agreement with the party entitled bluprint & I have rights that I will exercise even if i am forced to class actions. By you attitude & your clear effort to hide your identity, I DO wonder if you are in some way an employee or contractor or employee of NBCU who is a bit frustrated by the bad press that is rightly deserved untill our content is given to us in a usable form. They are entitled OWN FOREVER. Therefore they are currently in breach of contract & it WILL be addressed by class action if an announcement is made to its members & our property given to us in a manner that we CAN own it forever. So please do troll elsewhere. Some of us have spent thousands of dollars patronizing them both in membership dues & purchases. Clearly you have not invested much if anything in it.
Teresa, I am not a troll. My responses have shown up numerous times within this ‘forum’. From what I can tell, we ARE just a group of crafters that have been ‘shown the door’ by NBC that owns Bluprint. I have over 200 classes with them. I have been downloading like crazy over the last few weeks to try to ‘save’ them. I purchased an external ssd harddrive specifically for that purpose. I have been ridiculed ON THIS SITE for doing exactly that – downloading my classes. My response to Marie – just above, was her being outraged that the owner of Craftsy sold the company to NBC for so much money. What exactly would the point of that ‘argument’ be? to sue him personally? I, too am a US citizen. I, too am outraged over all this. It does not seem likely we will be able to sue anyone for anything. I, personally do not have those sorts of deep pockets to hire an attorney for this. And I am sure NBC has a ‘fully staffed’ legal department. I completely agree with you about the ‘forever classes’. THAT is why I am taking measures of my own to try to ‘save them’ AND STILL be able to access them from my computer. So please – save the sermon.
Marie, is there any way to recover the classes purchased from Craftsy or has any action been taken against the CEO to recover losses? A class suit would be of great interest. Thanks! Mary.
I was addicted to Craftsy & truly lived everything about it!
But like everyone else said, IT ALL CHANGED IN ONE SICKENING MOMENT, as in overnight.
It went straight from “I can’t wait to be to my tablet so I can get back on the Craftsy App, to bring locked out of Blueprint App.
I didn’t even know they had changed other than I could not find Craftsy anywhere. I had to do lot of invest gusting & research to find out all by myself. You think they could have sent a notice to alll of its current members! But really by that time, it was their previous members, since they were asking for ramdsome money to get things they ‘ad said was already ‘YOURS FOREVER’.
They had something beautiful, and they pissed it all away.
Extremely sad
Shelly, your classes are still there. Are you logging on using a tablet? I’ve been getting that same message on various other websites since this morning, but everything is fine when I log on with my laptop. NO IT’S NOT OKAY. While I was typing this reply to you I was hijacked to the “sharesale.com” page. GRRRRR. I can’t remember how to get rid of it, but as soon as I remember I’ll post it for you. Your forever library is still there, safe and sound.
I didn’t eliminate the hijack, but I was able to get on Craftsy/Bluprint as long as I didn’t click on the Rakuten button. I hope that helps.
I totally hear you .
Isn’t there any way of bringing the original Craftsy back?
Please!
It was amazing.
Thanks
Yvonne Caldwell
You nailed it correctly Lance. I have seen way too many corporations go in, purchase a great company and run it into the ground. Take their money and leave everyone in the dust. This needs to be outlawed. I’m hoping to get something back from the annual subscription I paid right before they made their announcement to close up shop.
Artists or creativity generators are so often exploited. I wonder what would have happened if the tutors en masse had refused the terms of the new contract. I don’t suppose for one minute that all the classes would actually be retired.
Skilled crafting tutors don’t need Craftsy as much as it needs them; without the creators they have no product. They should remember that. Alternatives for online teaching/tutorials do exist, perhaps not with such high production values but then sometimes style over substance supersedes content (something I feel Craftsy can be guilty of). Craftsy have planted the seeds of doubt in my mind about their long time viability. I wonder about their stability, to the degree that I doubt if I will purchase any more individual classes and the new Blueprint format holds no appeal for me.
Corporate companies would do well to realise that customers respond to good ethics in action. We don’t like our favourite crafting taste-makers being exploited. It leaves a bad taste which is ultimately bad for their business. I like to focus on individuals who set up their own platforms for whatever it is they do. I admire people like Alisa Burke. I trust her, love her product and it is priced very well and I find it easier to believe that life time access really means that. I like and support too that she gets to do things her way, acting with integrity and and that she remains in control of her product, tweaking it as and how she sees fit.
Just to clarify, a “retired” class on Craftsy still runs on the site. The instructor is just no longer responding to student questions.
Thank you, I didn’t know that it meant that.
Thank you for the clarification on what a “retired” class means as I supposedly “own” several classes.
Hi Abby,
Great article. I wanted to share, though, that I’ve recently encountered two cases of classes being retired where “retired” means no longer available for purchase on Craftsy.com, and no longer viewable on Bluprint:
I had recently purchased Vogue pattern 1397, a pattern I had on my running list of patterns to try, with the express intention of watching Sara Alm’s sewing class featuring that dress. When I went to watch the class, I could not locate it. I checked both Bluprint and Craftsy. In a text with Craftsy support, I was told that the class had been “archived” (or perhaps retired IS the word that was used; I’ll have to see if I still have the text transcript). The reason I was given when asked why it was no longer available was something to the effect of “classes are retired when they have not been popular or when the production value is not up to our current standards”. The representative I was chatting with did say that if a customer owns a class that gets retired, the class itself remains in the customer’s library.
This struck me as strange. I went back to the Craftsy site and looked up a couple of classes that I do not own, but that have had their share of criticism/controversy on the inter webs due to questionable validity of content and or user ratings. These classes are still being sold.
Then just a couple of weeks ago I was really surprised to discover that classes by Joan Hawley are also no longer available on Craftsy.com or for streaming via Bluprint. My personal impression of these classes is that they were extremely well done, popular, and well-reviewed. I dug around a bit to see if I could glean any more info, but there was little to be had. I did find where Joan addresses the issue a bit on her site, but did not go into the detail that you lay out in your article.
I’ve given some thought as to what I would like to have seen from Craftsy in these cases, but now knowing that the issues have stemmed from drastic contract renegotiations, I find the disappearance of these classes all the more troublesome.
I already (luckily!) owned one Joan Hawley class, so it’s true that the class remains in my library. It bothers me, though, that the value of the class was diminished when Craftsy retired the class, and it bothers me that I as a purchaser of this class would not know that I no longer had in-class access to the instructor unless I figured it out on my own.
It’s problematic that we as customers paid for classes that included teacher interaction, but that Craftsy’s contract renegotiating has removed this benefit, and in so doing, existing purchasers of the class are not really getting what they paid for as well.
Thanks for listening, and thanks for this article.
My best, Erica
I too had bought quite a few cake decorating classes when it was Craftsy and was unable to find any of them, I sent Bluprint a message and they keep telling me that I might have had a different email login etc., then I read somewhere that they have been archived and that I can access them by pressing the archive button. Well that didn’t work either! I had a hard time trying to find out how to get my classes back and you almost have to go thru so many different pages on Bluprint to even be able to contact someone to get some answers. Feeling very frustrated!
So those of us who have paid for hundreds of dollars worth of classes over the years, in subjects we were looking at starting on at some time in the future, are likely to be up the proverbial creek without a paddle if we need help from the instructor in the future…. hmmm…I haven’t yet seen a good reason for signing up to Bluprint
So if we have paid for a class in full they can still remove it from the website…,surely not…now I am really wondering …. I thought the consumer s contract on purchase of a class with Craftsy was indefinite viewing of the class. Can anybody clarify this predicament for me.
Hi Robyn, There’s been no indication that NBCUniversal is removing classes that you’ve paid for from your library. If you have a concern about that you should contact Bluprint directly, but I haven’t seen any evidence of that happening and nobody here in the comments is indicating that that’s happened to them.
If you purchased the class, you can access it for life even if they retire it. If you have blueprint and they retire it, you cannot.
my classes that I paid for are all gone. luckily, I only spent around $120 total, but I can’t access any of them & I’m furious.
Jordan Frank, I’m in the same boat I purchase quite a few classes and they have all disappeared and I can’t get any answers apart from they can’t find my login on their system that has any classes. I’m really frustrated!
Have you checked under the “library” tab? All of my “own forever” classes are there.
I purchased well over a dozen “own forever” classes through Craftsy. One remains in my library, & the missing ones are not in the archieved section.
Barbara MacDonald: I think we’re looking under different tabs. I don’t see an archived section.
Log in to your account. Look under “Own Forever Library”, then click on “Class Library” (I have 332 classes there. If you bought patterns click on “Pattern Library” (I have 106 patterns).
They all show up.
What I don’t see is anything called “Archived”.
I’m sorry it’s not working for you. I know this sounds fundamental, but are you logged on to your account? I forgot to do that and had a heart attack when none of my classes showed up!
Barbara MacDonald – also – they have a very good customer service “chat” feature. if you cannot find your classes under your library tab , they should be able to help you.
Barbara, this picture of the menu system might help
https://i.imgur.com/xQfdd4s.jpg
And I have to add, the website is one of the worst I use on a regular basis. It’s needs a total redesign to make navigation much more user-friendly. The owner doesn’t seem to realise/know that many Bluprint users are not computer experts.
Much appreciated, all! I have been in touch with customer service, & I did end up having two separate accounts. The account I accessed has only the one class there, but I’ve heard the others are available in the second. Customer service has offered to merge the two accounts for me, so I’ll have everything under a single account soon. They were very quick to answer, as were many of you; thanks again! =D
Barbara MacDonald, that’s great news! I’m so glad you’re able to access your classes. After all these years I still enjoy them a lot.
I am an avid Craftsy purchaser. I have been from the beginning. I don’t ask many questions, but when I do, it is because I am stuck, and THAT is what Craftsy did so well–instructors responded to ME. THAT is what made Craftsy different. I am so disappointed to see this happening. I don’t like it that the teachers are losing revenue and if classes are no longer interactive–no replies, RETIRED- Craftsy becomes like so many others out there. What is the point of owning an abandoned class? I might as well just go watch Youtube videos. That is NOT what I purchased. I’m concerned about the future of Craftsy, and I am so very disappointed.
Hi ,
I am also very disappointed that the instructors in the Bluprint version no longer have to answer the questions that come up during the lesson! It was one of the reasons I signed up for craftsy unlimited only to find that they had changed this when it became Bluprint.
AFAIK, it’s only retired classes that won’t necessarily get answers. My classes aren’t retired and I still get notices of comments or questions, and answer them. They’re both a few years old, so I don’t check for questions every day as I used to for a long while. But as long as it’s still possible to ask questions (maybe that goes away for a retired class?) that the instructor can see, I’d guess most will still answer; I would! It’s the relationship with students that matters most, IMO. But everybody’s different. And as for “lifetime” access, that’s the lifetime of the site, of course…
I can’t renew my membership and my library classes are archived. Can’t get to them.
I’m a disappointed customer too. I purchased bread baking classes and knitting classes and patterns. BluePrint never contacted me thd actual customer. N
I am with David. My daughter Melissa Watson taught three fit classes, one for upper body, then pants and a fitting knits class. I was one of her models. I volunteered to do most of the answers to questions to help her out–the royalty is a little higher if you answer questions–at least on how Craftsy was structured. Like David, I still look at the site at least once a month. There are not many questions and the ones asked are good, so I want to offer answers. Even we as instructors are a bit confused, but I hear in many of our 4-day workshops in Portland, OR and elsewhere that they signed up for a Palmer/Pletsch Workshop after watching one of these Craftsy classes which introduced them to our tissue-fitting method. So we have made an impact because you can take thousands in an online class, while only six per instructor in our hands-on classes.
Abby,
First , Thanks for clarifying. I was horrified to think of potentially losing 128 classes Ive purchased over the years from Craftsy.
I wonder if Bluprint doesn’t succeed, will they be legally required to make the videos purchased with a “yours forever” statement attached accessible ? This kind of issue could have serious trust issues for any type of content purchased anywhere.
Second, I want to say I feel like a complete jack-ass . People here were overwhelmingly against the subscription Craftsy unlimited. I voiced my opinion that Craftsy had been a decent and fair company and was offering both the old version as well as newer Unlimited, so why not give them a chance before judging negatively. … I feel as if theyre trying to grab as much money out with as little outlay as possible and then “Ta-Ta” . The new content is NOTHING but superficial beginner fluff- More Cooking than Art, Craft , etc. A good lesson for these big businesses is to watch the best instructors produce without them.
Im an artist. Yet my formal educational is R.N. Ive learned my own lesson here . Much to learn from reading these posts. Kudos
Hype is the word that came to my mind….it´s a synonym so it seems that several people got the same impression.
Exactly! The new junk they are generating is/are NOT classes. It’s fluff, what a perfect word! Plus calling recycled PBS and other previously run shows “new” is shameful.
Except that when you buy a class you expect to have the instructor answer your questions. Otherwise it is just a plain video.
No longer responds to people who purchased the class with the understanding that they could get their questions answered for many years to come. Lovely. I have over 200 classes and have only asked o e question that took so long to get an answer I forgot I asked it… Poohy on Craftsy and Blueprint. I badgered them into giving me a better price for the year but have already decided with its mindless tv type content and won’t renew next year. Am I just getting old or is this Blueprint a reflection on people’s lack of attention span now?
Hey there,
I think it depends on the instructor. I still respond to questions in my classes. But per my contract, I am only required to do this for the first 2 years the class is online. I don’t know how others contracts are written but that is how mine is written.
We still answer questions on Palmer/Pletsch fit classes because that is how you supposedly make a slightly larger royalty. I am not sure if the company is totally aware or that we get that extra royalty. We did not agree or sign a new agreement for Blueprint, but we see our classes seem to be there. Hmmm. Not sure.
My understanding is people who have a subscription see a note that says, “Join the conversation. Post a comment.” There’s no promise that an instructor will answer their question, but that’s the expectation that has been built up by Craftsy over the years and was a key selling point for Craftsy promotions so it’s what existing students have come to expect.
Bluprint’s explanation of the change is that having students answer the questions makes it more of a community and lightens the workload for instructors. According to an instructor I spoke with, though, the answers from other students are often incorrect. And there’s a possibility that customers will think that the instructor is ignoring them when in reality the instructor never saw their question.
I, too am an instructor on Craftsy/Bluprint and I still answer questions every day, even though my first class was launched in 2013. My obligation to answer questions is long over. However, I recognize that it is in my best interest to keep my students questions answered as they will (hopefully) buy the supplies they need on my website or even come to my classroom to take classes in person.
Abby are you a part of bluprint?? you sure are defending them
Hi Belinda,
No, I’m not affiliated with Bluprint beyond having two of my patterns for sale in the Bluprint pattern marketplace (they were brought over from the Craftsy pattern marketplace a few weeks ago when that shift was made). My goal here is to convey what instructors are being told by the company so that the information is accurate and consumers, potential instructors, and current instructors can stay informed.
Abby, You sound very knowledgeable about what is happening at Bluprint. I am a pattern designer who had hundreds of patterns listed on Craftsy for sale and am now down to 3. Bluprint has mentioned to the pattern designers that we would be able to sell more patterns in our store in the future. I have heard rumors that this may never happen. Have you heard anything about the ability to expand our stores in the future?
I am very thankful to Craftsy for the many years of free service it has offered me as a pattern designer. I never could understand how they could sell our patterns and charge no commission, but so thankful that they did. I really miss my full store!
Hi Mary, I asked Julie Rothman, the public relations person at NBCUniversal Cable, about this. Unfortunately, all she said was, “Our improved marketplace will be launching in Spring with more detailed information to follow:
Click here for the FAQS: https://help.mybluprint.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021334551“
So little comment from the designers! I too lost a full shop full of patterns that had sold over the world for several years. I am left with one pattern, a nice one, but one that was never a top seller. I am totally disgusted by the suggestion that I post my floral applique quilt patterns on Ravelry, which is a knitting/crochet venue. I was also told that persons who had purchased my designs would always have the ability to repeat downloading them. Do the persons who spout these type of answers have the ability to think? How many persons after downloading a pattern and creating the design, decide to order the pattern again unless they lost their work in a fire or flood?
A store that only has one design for sale, no other choices, isn’t a store. Obviously, no intelligent persons made important decisions on this disastrous take over.
I’ve paid for a number of Craftsy classes which I haven’t even looked at yet. Will I have sill have access to the videos on the Craftsy platform? I have probably 30 or so classes I’ve paid for – so am not interested in any sort of subscription. Can’t find any real answers scrolling through – your post is the closest I’ve seen, which is why I am asking.
It now June and I can no longer find my “Purchased” classes……………………..now what?????
DJ
I would reach out to Bluprint customer service directly.
I have reached out to BluePrint 2 times and yet to get a response! I have no classes or patterns, that were paid for and some free patterns, in the library at all. NOTHING! I cant’s begin to say how frustrated and peeved I am over this entire thing. I didn’t attend the many classes a number of you did but what I did buy was very hard earned and saved monies for me. Fixed income monies I now see should have never been spent on this luxury. I see, for me, NO reason whatsoever to join BluePrint now or ever!
hi linda,
I was able to sign on to bluprint with my craftsy login. all the classes I had previously purchased were in my library.
if you have trouble finding them, there is a chat feature during business hours and a rep can help you locate things.
best, jodi
Your post frightened me! I just logged on to see if my classes are still there. I think I’ll put an inventory in a spreadsheet for safe keeping. I have a good number of classes that I paid for and don’t want to lose. I don’t have a lot of time for knitting this year, but I plan to get back to it before the holidays.
Diane et al,
Are you sure you’re looking in the right place for your purchased classes? The website is a horror to navigate and no matter how many times I go there, I still have to search again for the page I want.
Interesting is the market demographic shown in their promo video in this article. Doesn’t look like much of a broad appeal for anyone over 30-40ish??? While the segments look lovely, it’s seems like a ton of fluff. Sometimes we are looking for actual content that demonstrates and promotes actual learning of a new skill. I feel so bad for my friends invested in Craftsy as instructors. So much talent and expertise exploited by corporate behemoths. As our market continues to get totally saturated with good and bad, we will see more and more of this. What’s even more disenchanting to me, is that we have a culture can’t focus, commit or support anything. The only thing that is constant is the motion seeking that “shiny new thing”! And that’s about 1 minute!
Blueprint is also at a disadvantage by lumping all their content into one streaming service. Sure, there are plenty of people who are “multicraftual,” but I don’t think *enough* people are for this model to be sustainable.
I’ve been taking online classes since the early days of Quilt University. I’m a “charter member” of The Quilt Show. I took my first Craftsy class shortly after they came online and I’ve taken a lot of fo classes there. I’m not only a quilter and my area of interest in the quilting genre is art quilting and mixed media art. I’ve taken all of the sewing classes on Craftsy except for one or two. I’ve taken classes on Skillshare and for a while, I had a subscription to creativebug and QNN TV. I dropped those two because I like more in depth classes and content. When Craftsy Unlimited came about I subscribed and I’ve remained a subscriber. So that’s my history…
I’ve always wondered if the instructors were paid well. I’ll always be a student because I love learning in many areas. But, I have such great respect for every instructor and I believe they need to be paid well and they need to have additional benefits/initiatives from a company so it will be worth their time to continue to teach this way. I don’t live near any of the larger quilt shows so I go to regional shows most of the time. Other than the big box craft stores (a little over an hour away from where I live) there isn’t a place for me to shop locally. I end up buying just about all of my supplies online.
I’ve written to Craftsy multiple times over the years about the need students have to be able to buy the materials needed for each class and for the materials to be of the quality the instructor uses. They need a better variety of supplies given all of the different materials students need for classes. I’m sure warehousing and distribution is a significant operation, but there are companies that can do that for them. They could make up a kit of the most important supplies for each class and also carry the smaller type of supplies that would require choices made by students. I don’t know how well the line of fabric and threads they are offering now will sell. I’m hesitant in ordering any because I have to think that the product isn’t up to the quality of the fabrics from the manufacturers with which we are familiar already. The “partnering” with a Michael’s or a Joann’s store would be alright IF those stores carried the quality of materials we need for classes and the ancillary items as well. I don’t want to have to order from three or four stores and pay three or four shipping charges to get everything I need for a class.
Amazon has a marketplace and they know how to stock their warehouses all over the country. It seems like a partnership with Amazon would be much more beneficial. Set up a “Craftsy Store” let Amazon fulfill and ship the items. Most people have a Prime membership so students would be able to receive supplies in two days most of the time. I would buy the kit for every class I take if something like that was available. Craftsy/Bluprint/NBC Universal should give a percentage of the profit to the instructors because the student wouldn’t be shopping on Amazon/Craftsy at that particular moment in time, but this is another opportunity for Craftsy/Amazon to capture a customer who will probably buy something in addition to the kit since the marketplace is huge. Some instructors have certain “tools” they sell on their websites. There should be a way for those special items to be sold with the kits or as a separate purchase in the same order.
Just last week I was on Bluprint and I thought I’d check out the Craftsy Store to see if they had what I needed. There is no link on Blueprint to take you to the store!!! I wrote to customer service. Three days later I received a reply that said they knew they needed a better way for students to get to the store and they were looking at ways to do that. Give me a break! I could code the necessary links in thirty minutes to solve that! I’m staying on Bluprint as a student because there are classes I want to take and some sewing and designing classes I want to take again as a refresher so I’ll be ready to make some Fall clothes.
I’m glad to know how the instructors get paid. I used to stop the video while I stopped to do whatever technique was just shown, but now I won’t stop the video. I’ll let it keep running then when I’m ready to move on to the next step I can always go back to that place in the video and start again with the next step in the project. I always watch the video in full before I start on my project anyway. So I’ll do the above as I’m working on the project so the instructor will have more minutes clocked. We students need our instructors to stay and for them to be able to add more classes!
I too, will let the classes I am watching run through all of the lessons. I will return to the sections again and again so these instructors get credit. That’s a great way to support them.
Amazon has a lot of warehouses around the country, but as the secretary of a business that sells through Amazon warehouse fulfillment, there’s no accountability. They have absolutely no customer service for their suppliers. It’s all done by AI. Their day to day inventory reporting was down for weeks, and yet they continued to request new shipments of our products, with delayed or inconsistant sales reports. Their payment for products sold was similarly delinquent. If you have questions about their procedures, you can ask them in a forum where you will be answered by other customers. In addition, their control over the quality of the goods sold on their site is nonexistent. They operate on volume and simply do not care.
Goid to know about Amazon and the way they do business with you. I will continue buying directly from a business when I can
I am really disgruntled by craftsy becoming bluprint. The loss of some purchased patterns and archival of videos without the option to download is frankly ridiculous and bad business.
The subscription seems to be taking away a number of options for consumers.
As a “legacy” Craftsy instructor – I negotiated the contract to remove the first look clause and now I am extremely happy I did. My income has fallen by more than 80% now as of the Q2 payment and I am still waiting to hear from Craftsy about why they didn’t pay me for the Q2 Downloads of my materials.
I agree with the fact that when I filmed the classes that I was treated like royalty and up until the buy out I felt like part of the team regardless of what was happening. Now – not so much.
What is the “first look” clause you are referring to?
Hi Becky, The first look clause in the amended Craftsy contract states that if an instructor “wants to develop and appear in another video project for presentation now known or hereafter existing, Instructor shall first notify Craftsy before pursuing any development of the Video Project and shall submit the idea for the Video Project to Craftsy.” The effect of this clause is to grant Craftsy the right to look over any video the instructor would like to make on any subject at any time, not just those videos within the same subject area as their Craftsy class. Craftsy would then have 15 days to decide whether to develop the project or pass on the opportunity.
Thank you for this. I’ve been a user of Craftsy since 2012, and I loved it in the beginning, when the classes were longer and more thorough.
I did subscribe to Unlimited, and I had mixed feelings about it. I really like that some of The Great Courses are available now, but I am not a fan of the new small wanna-be classes that have been introduced in the last couple of weeks.
Just like with television, I am not going to watch something just because it features a celebrity – I can’t be the only one who doesn’t care that some actress knits, or that a tv anchor likes to grill. I doubt if I will be renewing my Bluprint subscription due to the recent addition of so much stuff (and instructors) I have no desire to see.
I am dismayed by the treatment of the instructors by them. One question – are the instructiors paid better for the classes purchased on Craftsy than they are on Bluprint, or is it also based on minutes watched? As a consumer, I am interested (so that I can better support the instructors I like).
YES we are paid better for the classes if you purchase them IMHO! We get a percentage of the outright purchase based on if it was our personal link or through Craftsy itself but we only get a portion of the “pot” of the subscription-based price.
Agreed! When a class is purchased we receive an actual percentage. Supposedly, the subscription model also represents a percentage (of your minutes versus the total minutes watched, etc)…but as already pointed out here – it just doesn’t seem to add up. Sadly.
I appreciate this article. Before Craftsy, I was stuck in instructional DVD nightmare or old school on-line where you have to start ever class from the beginning if you need to stop watching and cannot move around. I can say that through the Craftsy platform, I have grown as a quilter, bag maker, garment maker and even returned to embroidery and crochet too.
I’ve been on Crafty Unlimited/Blueprint since it launched. I’m not loving it. it is like watching TV. The quality of the instruction is not the same with the new content (really some of it is so light on technical skills I could teach the class). I find myself going back to the Craftsy classes I purchased over and over. So good to know how the revenue stream works.
So like all things, you brilliant artists will evolve. You already have new tools to share your passion. However, I am thankful for Craftsy because without them, I would not know you!!!!
One reason I never joined creativebug was because of the monthly cost, I liked getting one class and watching it when I had time. I’m not always going to watch more than one class in a month so i’m paying for a bunch of things that I don’t want or need. I also feel that the monthly subscription direction is to keep me in front of a computer screen and not in my studio making something. The real truth is large companies are looking to get a monthly fee from people, remember when you could buy a photoshop program and load it on your computer? Now you have to pay a monthly fee…forever. The companies are getting rich by charging by the month instead of just letting people buy what they want to watch when they have time. It’s a shame as I have really enjoyed the classes I have watched on Craftsy over the years and have learned a ton of new tips and tricks from the great instructors.
I didn’t sign up for monthly subscriptions with Craftsy and won’t for Blueprint as I can’t afford it and the content isn’t there either. With regard to Photoshop etc. I might have managed to cobble together enough money to get my own version to download and keep and use at my leisure. With the monthly subscription my only option, I go without and look for workarounds. I want to learn illustrator but wouldn’t be a big user and so can’t justify or afford the cost. So I am lost as a customer, and they don’t get my money at all while I am devoid of useful skills I would like to acquire. Removing choice drives customers away. I think choice is important as we consume differently. At the moment Craftsy provides that as an alternative to Blueprint but for how much longer?
I considered signing up for Creativebug as it was $4.99 at the time – so much more affordable than Craftsy, which is not even a consideration. Even then I didn’t think the content was enough to sustain my interest, although I liked some of the classes I watched on the free trial. Now the price is up, it definitely isn’t happening. Yet I do have an interest in individual classes and might purchase some of those given a choice but I don’t think I can do that.
Greed so often gets in the way because no matter how successful something is, there are always targets to improve revenue. It is rarely accepted that there is a saturation point. Eventually the thing implodes, which is a shame especially when something starts off so well.
Try COREL PAINT SHOP PRO … it is still by DVD / download … no other payments unless you want the upgrade…. I only get a new program with a new computer …. function is similar to the higher price programs
I used Paint Shop Pro for a number of years and was able to learn so much from various free tutorials. I got a new laptop and chose to buy Photoshop Elements a few years back. I am considering going back to Paint Shop Pro because I see so many willing to share techniques with others. I like getting a CD to download because you have it forever. If a company folds, you still have the program to use. I don’t like having to email a company to tell them my computer crashed and I had the program from an online download and hope I can get it.
I have the monthly PS subscription. Actually it’s cheaper than upgrading to a new version ($100s in the case of PS) every 18 months and you get updates constantly – so you don’t have to wait for a major release. Scott Kelby did a show on this when the conversion happened and he broke down the costs. I still have my last brick and mortar version because that one included InDesign, Illustrator and Acrobat. I was waffling on a bluprint subscription as I already have most of the classes I want and can pick up others on sale but if it is $80 a year – that is 2 $40 classes or 4 $20 dollar classes and I get 8 to own with the deal they are running now. I really liked Craftsy but I have noticed that the weekly blog, freebies, and contests to win have disappeared. I liked the fact that the classes I bought would be available to watch even if I never bought another one. If they are going to ignore the long time customers and the instructors – they won’t last.
Exactly. I feel the same about monthly subscriptions. I try to stay away from them – as they are just yet another “bill” I have to pay. I’m like you – would rather buy what I want and pay for it outright. Trying to keep monthly “automatic” bills to a minimum.
Craftsy instructors are paid 10% of the cost of a purchased class. So if you pay $24.99, the instructor gets $2.50. Minutes watched on Blueprint is less than 1/10 of a cent per minute watched.
This is true only if you don’t have your instructor affiliate links. If you use the instructor affiliate links it is 35%
I subscribed and am unable to watch the videos. They don’t load. I have a new computer, updated everything, tried all of the suggestions to play a video and it still does not play. You can give credit where credit is due when you cannot participate!
Did you contact Bluprint?
This is a great article and what it describes happening in the creative video class arena, small well-run creative company taken over and steadily ruined by corporate conglomerate, parallels exactly what happened to all the creative magazines in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. I actually wrote for several of those magazines during that time period and actually made a decent living at it doing profiles of featured needlework artists, writing about textile museums and needlework exhibits, and even publishing a few of my own crochet and sewing project designs.
Then, the conglomerate magazine publishers began moving in and buying up all the needlework magazines. I still remember what the editor of “McCall’s Needlework and Crafts” told me when she called me to let me know that she wouldn’t be able to contract my writing after all because KIII, Inc. had decided to discontinue the magazine entirely. According to her, their staff had been told that the decision had been made because “KIII’s green shades — [her term for the corporate accounting department] — decided that our $10 million profit couldn’t hold up to the $2 billion by ‘Soap Opera Digest’. In short, the corporate accountants or whoever at the top saw it as apples vs. apples, when instead it was apples vs. pomegranate seeds.
Hoping that unlike the magazine debacle, it doesn’t take more than a decade for a good solution to materialize. Unfortunately, past experience doesn’t offer much reassurance on that front.
I have been with Craftsy since the beginning. The Knit Lab classes taught me how to knit. Even though I took some lessons in person, the LYS was 65 miles away at the time, and I would be confused by the time I got back home and picked up the project again. Knit Lab was right there and I could watch it over and over again.
I signed up for Craftsy Unlimited last winter. I got an incredible deal. The price was $120 for a year, but I receive $25 coupons to use in the craft store once a quarter. So my total is $20 for a year of instruction and I get to try craft supplies I would not have considered before.
I absolutely LOVE the unlimited model. I’ve learned quite a bit about sewing and embroidery. And just those 4 classes more than cover the cost of the $120 annual fee. These are older classes and are really good. I have watched baking classes while I knit and have made some of the recipes which have been really good. There is a massive catalog of sewing classes and I will definitely renew my membership, because it is a better deal for me as a consumer than purchasing classes individually. And BTW, the cost of the classes ala carte has gone way up. So they are driving people to the unlimited model, for sure. With the unlimited model, I have gotten to take classes I’ve looked at for years, but couldn’t justify the cost. Now I’ve gotten them and MORE. I just love it. But I also like to do all kinds of things. I will also add that the startup library classes are well worth the cost. Though they used to be $40 and now Embroidery Startup is $70 (currently on sale for $60).
I’m sad for the instructors. That is terrible news, and it makes using the platform less enjoyable. I’ll have guilt about people in my industry not getting paid fairly which will take away some of the enjoyment. But honestly, I’m still going to enjoy using it.
The big worry is whether NBC is going to run it into the ground and shut it down. I would be extremely upset if that happened. I go back and rewatch classes I’ve taken ALL THE TIME to refresh my memory on techniques. I would be absolutely sick to lose this wonderful resource catalog, because it really is a jewel on the internet. An internet which is filled mostly with garbage, IMHO.
I feel so bad for all the Craftsy instructors. How do I know which teachers have retired from their classes? I have a bunch of classes I purchased years ago and plan finish them all. What good would it be if the instructor doesn’t reply back to students? Sometimes the students will need help.
Christina, I’m a Craftsy instructor and I get student questions emailed to me from the site. If you want to prioritize which of your classes still have instructor interaction, asking a question may be the way to go…. if the instructor is still active, you’ll likely get a prompt reply.
I’ve been a big fan of craftsy since 2011 and have purchased both knitting and quilting classes and loved the longer, in depth format and the free BOM that were so informative for new quilters. I was slow to go on unlimited as I had paid for so many classes I didn’t want to pay again but eventually got on and loved the look- how it was the same but different as the original craftsy.com. I don’t like Bluprint -its pared back interface is less cosy and inviting and for short quick makes I prefer Creativebug at 1/3 the price. Disappointed but hoping the additional content might offer something interesting I can’t get elsewhere. I’m disappointed for the instructors too as very few places online create that we’re all in it together feeling that craftsy created and brought instructors closer to the makers even from afar.
I’m both a Craftsy instructor and a long-time user of online video tutorials. Every place I still watch video tuts has by now gone to a sub model, and I’m delighted as a viewer—it’s a bargain!—so I have to give in and admit that it’s no surprise that Craftsy/Bluprint is doing it too. I surely miss the old revenue, and am certainly disappointed that the content is being dumbed down and TV-ized. But when has quantity over quality not ever been the trend? It’s the absolutely-always trend, because it absolutely works reliably when all you care about is bottom line for the corp. Those places I still watch tutorials are all still so niche focused that they aren’t trying to draw in the masses, and they’re still working only on maintaining standards and upping the content quality. Those places where I no longer subscribe are spreading out and getting thinner…and growing; apparently they don’t miss me.
Thanks for this very informative article! I have purchased a few of the older classes but never found enough time to watch them all. So I stopped buying them. I learned tons from some of the classes and cherish them dearly. I will not be subscribing to the unlimited option as I can’t see it fitting into my schedule. Either you make or you watch. I don’t care about celebrities either but I am sure they did some research or at least hope so. My only demand is that those classes I bought remain available forever as stated
The funny (or really not funny) thing is, is that no one had to sign the contract. They bullied 99% of the instructors into it by first acting like it was a wonderful new thing that would benefit them, and then acting like they were open to suggestions if we had any (I had plenty, which were all ignored), and finally with scare tactics. After quite a few phone conversations, I never signed. Not because I thought I could benefit by not signing (I knew my profits were evaporating), but because I hated the feeling of being bullied and I simply refused to give in. One Craftsy employee told me blankly that I was the ONLY instructor who hadn’t signed – something that I know is untrue because I have since been contacted by one other instructor who did not sign.
This is all a big disappointment because, like Joe, I was ready to be Craftsy’s #1 fan and promote them all day long after filming my first class. They really did treat me well when I was there and I am super proud of the 2 classes that we created together.
Thanks for the news update, Abby. I wondered where all the Craftsy emails had gone.
Well this is all disappointing, I have been with Craftsy for many years and I didn’t like the monthly charge idea but was assured that my classes would still be available and I wouldn’t need to sign up. That was good but I wondered what was going on there. Then this Blueprint came out, I haven’t looked into it but I felt it probably wasn’t good.
Thank you for all this info. I’m just a consumer but It’s pretty shocking to learn how badly instructors are being treated, and I’m sorry to hear it.
The types of deals offered by Craftsy lately have made me very wary. Two for the price of one, when the classes are already on a sale offer (thereby only paying 25% per class) has the feel of cashing in quick before closing the whole thing down. I don’t think the ‘class for life’ guarantee will stop them.
I’m a relatively new sewist, and need repeated access to techniques, plus there are parts of my classes I’m not ready for yet. Needing to watch all my classes immediately and never being able to watch again is obviously putting me off buying, and I can’t be alone.
It sounds like Bluprint and Craftsy could well be written off as insufficiently profitable, which is very disappointing.
I haven’t seen any interesting new quilting classes added since I signed up for the subscription model, and now that I know the instructors aren’t being compensated well enough, I can understand why. I’m not likely to renew when my year is up, because I’ll have watched everything I’m interested in. I generally don’t do online subscriptions anyway, and was only enticed into this one by the $100 in merchandise (not realizing that the selection had also gone downhill).
I bought into the subscription too…$120 with$100 in coupons and unlimited classes. Great! Now… without any explanation, it’s $120, no coupons, and limit of 3 classes a quarter. I won’t be renewing. Every time you turn around they’re changing their business model… I’m tired of the inconsistency.
I think you might be misunderstanding, Lou. When I signed up earlier this month those three classes a quarter were to keep forever (which, of course, only means until the company pulls the plug on Craftsy/Bluprint). There was still access to all the other classes. The deal which is still open until 31/12/18 is pretty good especially for US residents.
https://i.imgur.com/j3wnvvC.jpg
Well, that would be nice if craftsy/blueprint followed through. I was supposed to get the 4 $25 coupons, and got three of them. What happened to the fourth? Then I received the blueprint extension as a Christmas present, and received 3 free classes, and no more since December. Maybe I’ll get another 3 free classes in April, but I’m not holding my breath. My comments are also being removed from Marcy’s classes. One was asking about “George” the Pfaff machine she sews on. She’s suddenly using a Bernina. The second comment was that I enjoyed Marcy’s personality, but would like more technical information. I know she has the sewing chops to teach with more detail, but I’m sure they want her personality showcased, not her abilities. So sad. Superficial is the operative word at craftsy/blueprint now.
In the past when I wanted to buy a Craftsy class, I searched out the instructor’s website to see if I could click through their affiliate link before adding it to the shopping cart, knowing that they would get a higher percentage. It took extra time, and believe it or not, some instructors DID NOT put the link to their Craftsy Class on their website. So I could give that extra income boost to about 75%. Just a small way to help support Craftsy instructors. I am neutral on the changes. If Craftsy has not been profitable to date, then I am all for them exploring new options, so that they can continue. If they were UNPROFITABLE on the old model and continued to stay that way, chances are they would have to close up shop!!! If they ever do that, I hope they will allow us to download the classes we purchased.
NBCUniversal owns the video library (that’s a big part of what they purchased then they bought Craftsy) so my guess is that if Bluprint were to go away all together Craftsy classes would remain accessible to customers through NBC’s vault. They seem pretty dedicated to making good on that lifetime access promise.
About NBC honoring Craftsy’s lifetime access… It started to scare me when Craftsy began to sell videos of the classes… if I would have known this I would not have purchased my 204 classes on line but rather would have purchased the DVDs as I rarely ask an instructor a question participate in the “community “.
Thanks so much Abby for this interesting and informative piece. I’ll certainly be playing my purchased classes as much as possible now to support the instructors. I’ve worked in creative and manufacturing industries all my life and seen the shift from quality to cheap prices and poorer product in every one. Glad to see that While She Naps maintains excellence in the face of this trend. You are a beacon.
Watching the purchased a la cart classes does not give the instructors more fees. Only watching them on Bluprint counts towards minutes watched/earned by instructors.
I bought into Craftsy Unlimited with the understanding that all the Craftsy content was there plus new stuff, but I swore there was stuff missing when I was looking for a sewing class a few weeks ago. We aren’t getting what we signed up for if content is being retired by Bluprint. I won’t be renewing if there isn’t anything new in the quilting, sewing and knitting categories. I’m glad I watched the Joan Hawley classes while they were still up.
I don’t think that Bluprint is saying they aren’t producing new content in these categories or that they are taking anything away.
I don’t think they are saying it either, but I have seen anything new except Angela’s goat videos that I have no interest in watching.
Hi Rhonda, Thank you for joining me in my classes! If you enrolled before the classes were retired, then you still have access to the classes.
Years ago I started taking classes at Quilt University and loved them even though each class ran for an allotted time frame–just like going to school. I was sorry they closed, but understood the circumstances. I joined Craftsy near their beginning, I will check my account and see if all the classes I paid for are still available. I never want to have my credit card charged monthly for something, so I don’t sign up for monthly magazines, etc. I am sure I would forget when I needed to contact them to stop the subscription!
I signed up for Craftsy Unlimited a few months before they changed to Blueprint! I had been evaluating for months before making the decision. I paid the one year $120 which had bonuses at the time (to entice?). I thought if I watched one class a month, it would be worth it to me. I am so glad to learn how instructors are paid and will be sure I now watch 2 classes a month! I stopped teaching at a local quilt store because the pay I got didn’t cover my expenses! I do hope Blueprint or Craftsy continue, but one never knows in this day and age, since so many others have (magazines, etc.). I will be evaluating before I renew in 9 months.
Abby, thanks for keeping us informed about the things that are happening in the craft industry. It disappoints me that there are so few companies anymore that can say, “We have been around for 80 years (or more) and we value our employees and customers.”
Well said, Nancy.
I’ve been a Craftsy customer since 2013, and over the years I have literally spent thousands of dollars on classes. I loved Craftsy so much because I could never have gotten this kind of detailed instruction otherwise. I need to watch and re-watch and re-watch. I looked at CreativeBug but the level of content doesn’t compare. Due to the amount of $ I had invested in it, I was reluctant to sign up to the streaming service because it feels like I have wasted my $. But finally I decided to try it, but I must say that I love it. There are classes that I like to watch (e.g. cake decorating) that I will probably never do, so would normally never purchase a class, but now I like to watch cake classes while I quilt.
I always wondered how this streaming model will affect instructors’ pay, and now I know. Where I have purchased the class, I will probably still watch it on Bluprint so that the instructor can get a bit more money for it.
In general, as a Craftsy Instructor I’ve been very pleased with my 3 classes and the amount of traffic I get. However, with the new changes, I’ve realized that they suppress all Startup Library classes on the Craftsy site whenever they have a sale that touts “every class on sale for $20 or less” since it’s a much higher pricepoint. They used to add a caveat that the sale didn’t apply to some classes, but now rather than explaining, you just can’t find it in search. It does show up on Bluprint for streaming, but you can’t purchase it a la cart on Craftsy unless you have a direct link to get there. They have every right to control the marketing aspects which I agreed to in my contract, but I never imagined that meant they would hide my class each time they had a sale. 🙁
I have been in business for many years, and I’ve learned that if you mess with infrastructure, you are setting yourself up for collapse.
At Craftsy, the instructors are the infrastructure.
While I have a healthy respect for venture-capital, my highest respect goes to those work not only to make a profit but also to maintain the respect and integrity of those who support them. Those are the businesses who will make it in the long run.
We are on the verge of a great change–a change that may very well kill corporations who remain greedy. Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered, especially in today’s climate. A majority of corporations do not see it yet, but taking advantage of others is going out of style.
Think about it.
Imagine what it might have been like if NBCUniversal had developed a plan where their instructors felt as good, or better, about Craftsy than they did before the acquisition. What a fan base! What a way to ensure that your brand stays strong, that your brand stays respected, and that your brand stays . . . dare I say it?
Shiny.
Craftsy, it is not too late. You can still change. Instead of following the old school method of slicing and dicing people. You can be the innovative ones who give a damn. And yes, you can still make a profit. Handled correctly, you can make a fortune. Win/win works. Give it a try.
You said this so well, LeeBerstein. I remember what my dad spoke of years ago (he would have been 100 this year). He went to work at 16 and talked about how the company respected their employees and the employees respected the company and gave their all. Then he talked about how money and profits began taking front stage. That is when unions became necessary (his words). Unions have been thrown out of the mix these days. Workers don’t see the need. You are correct to say a change is coming. One might say history will repeat itself. In a college graduate history class I took we learned that memory only goes back one generation because two generations back have died. One can only guess what will happen. But, workers shouldn’t be treated as serfs in a kingdom. I am reconsidering how I learn my skills after all I have read and learned here.
Thank you for your insight, Nancy. That is an interesting point about generations and memory. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
Nancy, and Lee, if you ever revisit these comments, you should look up Steven Pearlstein’s article, “Five myths about capitalism” in the Washington Post (Sept. 29). I am probably too old to see any coming “change”, and probably too cynical to count on it actually happening. This year and in 2020, we may get an indication of how far down this path Americans are willing to go.
I am not an old curmudgeon, and I recognise that the world around us is constantly changing and evolving, and simply longing to return to the past is not a constructive way to correct or improve on the missteps taken along the way.
On the positive side, the evolution in providing content is happening at such a rapid pace, that any corporate arrogance (or greed) displayed in these acquisitions are likely to be short lived and quickly overtaking by the next new “thing,” even if the new thing is based on just as much greedy capitalism as the thing it replace. Which leaves us with a culture much like that of finance . . . get in, make as much as you can, get out before it blows up.
Happy crafting of all sorts for everyone.
To all of us talking about the Craftsy Business model… no one can afford to give things away for long. Capitalism actually works much better than socialism over time. People run out of other people’s money eventually. That is why venture capitalists want the return on their investments after a period of time. Craftsy probably could have been profitable if it have been run correctly and in turn instead sold. I am very unhappy about what has happened. I own about 200 classes. In my opinion Blueprint is silly and will fail. But I am a realist, if there is no money to be made, no one is going to continue to run a business for fun… would you?
Reading this article and all of the interesting comments has really gotten me thinking about how content is created and delivered. Craftsy and its instructors have generated some really worthwhile content, but if the delivery model isn’t sustainable then no one will be able to benefit from it in the long run.
It’s so difficult to find a monetary balance that fairly compensates instructors, is sustainable, and draws in viewers. So much free content is available on other platforms that I’m sure it’s hard to convince people to pay for content. Sometimes free content is definitely a case of you get what you pay for, but in other cases it’s actually good quality and worthwhile.
That being said, I think the Craftsy courses offer a level of quality and depth that it’s difficult to find elsewhere. For everyone’s sake I hope the company is able to find a method of content delivery that will be sustainable while still fairly compensating the instructors.
Thank you for the article. I live in Nigeria and the website is no longer accessible to us since it became bluprint. Many people I know including myself have classes and patterns we paid for that we can no longer access. I contacted customer care back when it happened and they said they would refund us which hasn’t happened. We never received any emails telling us we would no longer be able to access the website, nothing. Some people are even now still being charged for monthly subscription which they cannot cancel since they can’t even view the website.
Craftsy meant so much to us given the limited resources available and now it’s all gone.
Will I be able to print out instructions for patterns or recipes if I am a blueprint member?
For Bluprint customer service you’ll need to reach out to Bluprint directly.
I was unable to print out materials and pattern instructions for a class bought from Craftsy. It took almost a week to get Bluprint to email them to me, quite a hassle. I still can’t find a tab to ask a question or post photos. The materials tab doesn’t work. Craftsy wasn’t perfect but I and many other knitters I know find Bluprint a fiasco.
I am (was) a Craftsy junkie! I own over 200 classes mostly in the sewing category. To assure that the instructors are still paid, I will be re-playing them on Blueprint whether I am actually watching or just having them in the background while I sew! There have been no new serious sewing classes since Blueprint started except those that were in the works before the rug was yanked out from under the instructors! This is not what I agreed to when I joined Craftsy Unlimited. Is it always about money NBC you greedy bas#@rds. And yes, I know we all need to make money to stay in business. But after shafting the instructors, how do you think you are going to get quality content now? My plan is to watch everything I find interesting, purchase what I can not live without and quit wasting my $15 dollars a month since there is nothing new worth watching.
I cancelled my month’s trial of Bluprint last week because as the owner of over 60 Craftsy classes I couldn’t see any value. When I went to Craftsy yesterday there was an offer on the front page of 1/2 price for all Craftsy classes for one year if I sign up to Bluprint for a year. Why would you buy classes if you’re a Bluprint member especially as Craftsy classes are often cheaper than 1/2 price anyway?
It is not just instructors who have their faith eroded in Craftsy, consumers are also becoming disillusioned. I have purchased hundreds of Craftsy classes in the past, mostly during Black Friday sales, when the Currency exchange rate was better, (before the UK voted for Brexit). I tried Craftsy Unlimited for a trial period, but there were very few additional classes that I thought were worthwhile. I bought my first classes from instructors I had heard of, because I had already bought their books. This encouraged me to buy further classes from people I had not come across before. I was pleasantly surprised by how good these instructors were, I even bought more books. Their historic back catalogue of courses is good, but I always wondered what they would do once they had covered the basics of each craft. There are only so many variations on a theme that people will be willing to buy.
Over the last few years the number and duration of lessons started to decline. I did not mind paying for 2 or more hours of in depth tuition, but more recent courses had barely one hours worth of classes. I have not wanted to buy any new classes for the last two years. The fluff pieces by actors on Bluprint are a complete waste of my time. I want to learn to become better at my craft, not sit like a couch potato watching mindless tv, I can do better watching free content on YouTube.
They may already have devalued the brand too much. The lightweight nature of their latest classes runs the risk of any new content providers being regarded as wannabe reality stars, rather than skilled professionals.
As a canny consumer, during my brief Craftsy Unlimited subscription period I downloaded all the class materials from any show that I already owned or might be interested in, including pdf patterns, embroidery files and recipes. I am proficient enough to work out how to put things together from written instructions and generic YouTube videos.
In the past I purchased some patterns from the Craftsy store, but I can only reach this now because I have a pre existing saved link and an old Craftsy app. If you type http://www.craftsy.com in to Google, you get automatic redirection to the Bluprint site, which has no links to the Craftsy store. This must be having a detrimental effect on anyone who had put their patterns up for sale on Craftsy.
I was a prolific purchaser in the past, I will continue to re watch the courses I have bought, but until they offer something I want to buy, my money will be spent elsewhere.
Exactly how I feel about the “new” junk classes! Also a bunch of them are just recycled stuff that’s already been on tv or available elsewhere. It’s very disappointing! I have learned so much from Craftsy it really makes me want to cry about what is happening to it.
Is anyone having trouble downloading lessons bought in the past to an Apple IPad? For 36 hours, I have been trying to access lessons on my iPad to no avail. In short, the answer in a little pop-up says “Try again later”. Discussions with Craftsy yesterday told me they will have an engineer look at the problem and I should get an answer within 24 hours. I am going to an area where there is limited access to the internet hence I would like to view my classes offline on my iPad. After the comments above, I am beginning to doubt the integrity and long life of my lessons.
I just now downloaded a few lessons without problems (10:30p.m.CST). It was slow-going on my ancient iPad, but no problems at all on the newer one.
Hi Camilla,
I have a bluprint subscription and own a few lessons on craftsy. You say you ” down loaded” some lessons. Do you mean that you downloaded them to your computer? I thought you could only view them online. Am I mistaken? And if so how is that done? Thanks;
This was in response to Sue Scholz’s Dec 15th question “Is anyone having trouble downloading lessons bought in the past to an Apple IPad?”.
I tried it it on two iPads via the Craftsy app, using classes I had purchased from Craftsy (not Bluprint). I was trying this to help her.
I have an IPad and Craftsy had done a deal with Apple. You can download to the iPad but not Androids. I was living in an area where there was very little internet so that was a perfect solution for me. Also, I prop my iPad next to me when I’m doing a technique.
Thank you Sue and Camilla. I will download my classes to an iPad!
I have been a long time Craftsy customer. When I first started purchasing classes from Craftsy, there was only one 50% off sale that year. Later when I started seeing classes being on sale more frequently, I knew there were problems. I admit for some people the full price might have been a little stiff, but the depth of the information we were given, the length of the programs, and the added bonus of instructor assistance, made the cost very reasonable to me. I believed if a person really wanted a particular class, they would find a way to save for it. I felt that the classes were a bargain because I compared what I was paying for a Craftsy class to the video library I have covering knitting and sewing. For the older classes from the 90s you got 2 hours worth of information for $30 but 10 years later you only got 45 -60 minutes for same cost. So Craftsy had something that was unique and worth every penny. I understand there were sales because a business needs to make money but just decreasing the cost by 5 or 10 dollars for special holidays would have increased sales because people would have felt as though they had gotten a bargain.
I saw Craftsy as a goldmine of information. I sew, enjoy cooking, make jewelry, knit and crochet. So I saw Craftsy as a 1 stop shopping center. When it comes to the different crafts I enjoy, I have traveled to different cities for workshops where I didn’t learn a thing. So the cost of a Craftsy class paid for itself if I learned just 1 tiny bit of new information I could use and it was a lot cheaper . I have frequently told people who were interested in learning a craft about Craftsy. I encouraged them to take classes and even gave classes as gifts because Craftsy had some of the top English speaking experts from the U.S., U.K., and Canada.
When we first learned of the new format, I wrote that I was also in favor of the change providing the cost of a monthly subscription was limited to watching the videos at a price that would encourage people to purchase the classes they were interested in. I supported this because I had purchased several classes that were way below my skill level and wished I had, had the opportunity to see them beforehand. However, shortly after the public was informed of the changes we also learned that everything was being given to the public for a ridiculously low price. I still purchase the classes that I find most interesting, but I don’t think this is the norm. I have purchased over 400 classes.
I do not understand why the financial geniuses did not see what they were doing would not work over the long run. For common sense dictated that the majority of people would not purchase classes at any price if they were given everything related to a class at an extreme low monthly price via the subscription.
I for one do not blame the instructors for opting out of the new contract and/or having their work removed. We cannot expect them to give us something for nothing. We are taking the knowledge they acquired over the years and making it our own and they need to be paid.
I have bought 70 or so Craftsy sewing courses (that and quilting are my only interests) and have avoided Bluprint for that reason except for a one month trial. However their ‘come back’ offer the other day of any 12 classes to keep forever for a discounted fee for the year (U$79.99) plus a couple of other sweeteners (free US shipping etc) was too good to miss. The cost of those courses work out at $6.67 ea. How could I say no? Of course offers like this, or even Bluprint itself, are not fair to the many people who have invested hundreds, if not thousands, in buying courses over the years.
My 70+ courses are a largish investment and I do worry that one day I will lose access to them.
I can’t see Craftsy/Bluprint as a viable business model anymore due to the free competition from YouTube, blogs and other sources. These days when I buy a new pattern from one of the name companies I check online and more often than not I will find a video or other tutorial demonstrating the pattern steps. For example: Simplicity Pattern 8427
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1ymBm60FAM&t=405s
Wow, I wouldn’t have thought to look for a pattern tutorial after purchasing a major brand pattern. I’m new to sewing, and have leaned toward indie patterns b/c of the step by step instructions. It makes sense that Simplicity might offer that. Thanks for mentioning this!
Re-reading through this article and the associated comments – and as a Craftsy/Bluprint instructor…
I want to say a HUGE thank-you to all of you – our amazing network of fellow enthusiasts who support us and our work. THANK YOU SO MUCH for caring about the quality of our work and whether or not we are compensated fairly for that work. I could not do what I do without all of you and I’m sure that all of my fellow instructors feel the same.
I filmed a third class with Craftsy last spring (Machine Embroidery on Denim) in spite of the changes, simply because it still made economic sense to do so. And I truly enjoy filming. I have no illusions that my revenue stream from that source will be likely to increase, even with the addition of a third class. But it still does help fill more classes when I’m out there on the road, and that also has value.
I’m seeing a big change-up in my online classes with other vendors as well, so from my perspective the whole craft online class genre is under a state of flux. It will no doubt be interesting to see how everything settles out.
I have purchased most of your classes everywhere I can find them, on Burda, as well as Craftsy. I hope you will continue to teach online somewhere. You are knowledgeable and fun. Thanks for sharing your wealth of expertise.
Today I had an email from Craftsy saying my pattern store will be closed at the end of December as they are reducing the number of patterns available on the site. But it won’t matter because ever since the takeover the number of patterns I sell has dwindled down to nothing. Helen P is probably right, it is because the Craftsy link redirected to Bluprint, with no link to the stores.
It would be better if they wouldn’t pretend they were reluctant to remove patterns, when it probably was planned ages ago. Anyway it seems like Craftsy is now just a site I remember used to be good and isn’t anymore.
I got an email too, telling me that my pattern store is being closed in a few days. And although my sales have dwindled down, it seems a bit like a kick in the teeth. This article explains a lot. Seems quite short-sighted, as I am sure that a lot of the small-scale sellers are also customers. This move will probably just drive more people who want a good choice of patterns to ravelry, loveknitting, and etsy etc.
Ginny I’m sure the pattern store does not bring in enough money for them,,, like none. They don’t care about their Craftsy customers so why would they care about you. Sad.
First I would like to tell all of the instructors, THANK YOU for being so kind and sharing your knowledge and expertise to all you give us so much valuable information and help us Improve our crafting skills!
So sad to see that Craftsy sold out to the never ending Corporate greed.
I have purchased several items from Craftsy, and stopped purchasing from them due to many order errors including having my $650.00 order being sent to someone else and me getting another persons order with two quilt kits that I returned back as it was the right thing to do as a human being and everyone has their own style.
When I had to email back and forth with a customer service rep, since we all have cell phones, but not a landline, a real voice of customer service is no longer available, thus Customer Service is a thing of the past.
I was told that most of my order was no longer available, so I would not be getting the order that I had paid for.
I can only hope that the person that received the great gift of 7 Quilt kits had a concinse and did the right thing and returned them back to Craftsy, but given the fact that they do not have a customer Service number to call them about order issues, I am sure that they gave up and kept them.
To all of the crafters out there, remember that your ability to create is a gift, and most of our creations are given to others as a gift from the heart, and we hope that our receipiant knows how much love an care and our time when into creating that gift.
I have done many crafts, starting out with cross stitching when I was 17 years old, I learned from my Amazing Mom, who had been taught by her Mom, and you all know it keeps going from Generation to Generation.
I started scrapbooking and Card making back in the 90’s, and loved getting all of the magazines for ideas, and going to classes to learn new techniques.
I so loved getting my Creative Keepsakes Magazine and seeing what amazing artwork these artist would create. I also loved to go to any and every scrapbooking store, or a retreat to help support the industry.
I would always signup for a two year subscription on my magazines, only to be told 6 months later that they were going to digital format, and then 6 months later no longer in business, because let’s face it most of us that have the desire to craft are not 20 something, and our only purpose in life is the cell phone with the unlimited data plan permently attached to our hand.
Try finding a Scrapbook or rubber stamp store now, everything has gone digital, yes I do love my digital camera, but I find myself not printing the pictures like I did with my film, and didn’t we all just wait with anticipation for our prints to come back and see what we had, good photos or those not so blurry ones, we just couldn’t wait to get them back.
Just the other day I was going through old boxes and found photos, all those amazing memories just came back. Do we ever get that if we are not looking at the photo file on our computer. when there is a reason to evacuate our homes what is the first thing that we try to pack up our photos!
I guess that it better be our computer!
I started quilting several years ago, and I have learned such valuable skills from very many amazing women who have helped continue this long tradition of creating the gift of warmth and comfort and for the past decades a necessity.
My point here is that we all learn and get ideas not just because they are just miraculously there, but by being taught or are given an idea by someone else’s amazing talent that they have perfected, but most importantly learned from someone else.
Yes we can learn from YouTube, but remember that person is sharing their life learned lessons and expertise with you, they have worked hard and put in many hours, some a lifetime to share those talents with us.
Imagine going to work everyday, and earning a living and then tomorrow you find out that now your livelihood is being discounted down to 50%, 6 months later you are only worth 10% of what you were making.
This to me is very disheartening, how do we continue to devalue all that is in our lives, most importantly people who are out there that take the time to teach.
Now an analogy that we will all understand about our worth
Cost to make a quilt top
Pattern: $10 – $15
Fabric top. $100
Backing. $100
Thread. $15
Batting. $30
Long arm quilter. $80 on up
Time cutting fabric. 6 hours minimum wage $50
Sewing 50 hours
Hand binding 8 hours
Value of your gift to your loved one : Priceless
Offer from someone who does not know the actual worth: I’ll give you $150 for that beautiful lap quilt
Yep we have all been there!
Yes our budgets force us to search for ways to save money, because let’s face it, crafting is expensive!
The end result, look at these factors, Netflix, you get what you pay for, most of the stuff is 20 years old, monthly movie theater programs, first it was unlimited, they were going broke, now limited to 3 movies, scrapbooking magazines, got your magazine every month, went to digital, now a thing of the past.
If we continue to encourage these programs, be aware, the content will suffer and soon you will be stuck in a monthly payment with nothing in return. If they do have instructors to teach classes what do you think you are paying for.
Please think about the livelihood of these instructors, it would be a shame to not have people in this world sharing their knowledge of their craftsmanship, and have all of these Amazing hobbies that we have enjoyed over the years be just a memory of the past instead of live and well.
I will not be shopping on Craftsy any longer for classes or supplies, I feel that my money would be better spent on supporting the local business.
Sorry Craftsy, but just like the movie theater, you will be losing you concession profits, at the expense of the cheap monthly movie pass program.
“The end result, look at these factors, Netflix, you get what you pay for, most of the stuff is 20 years old, monthly movie theater programs, first it was unlimited, they were going broke, now limited to 3 movies.”
I know I’m veering off-topic to respond re: Netflix, lol, but in terms of original content, Netflix is a heavyweight contender. If one is speaking only to DVD rentals, and does not have access to streaming capabilities, then I suppose it may seem like a step down.
Although I will say, when Netflix let their licensing agreement with Ceebies(sp?) (CBC’s children’s TV) lapse for Sarah and Duck*, my household nearly fell apart. I wanted to contact the Netflix brass and say “I’ve my disgruntled 4.5 year old on the line, who will hold the next four hours of your life hostage trying to comprehend how ‘no longer available’ isn’t code for ‘I’m not letting you watch it’. Hope you have better luck than I did. It would probably be easier to simply renew the program.” Lol!
Another very sad thing is that Bluprint is not letting Mexico suscribe. We are not in the list of countries accepted. Please don’t do this to us.
Sorry to hear that , that should not happen. I live in Israel, I can subscribe but they do not have shipping to Israel.
Thank you for all the information, both in your article and in the comments. I’ll only use Craftsy to watch the classes I previously bought, but will not pay for a subscription for Bluprint. I hate what they have done to the designers of patterns that were sold on Craftsy and how the intentionally left the buyers in the dark. Back to youtube, blogs and creating on my own.
Thanks for this post. I went to Craftsy yesterday after a long break and was so confused about the Blueprint membership (making a craftsy class cheaper). I know things can’t stay the same forever but I’m heartbroken for the teachers and pattern designers.
This has been a fascinating discussion and I hope someone who can do something reads the comments. I am so sorry it has been difficult for the instructors. I have nearly 100 classes purchased and when I see my name on Bluprint and search my library there is nothing. If I log into craftsy they all show. I really hope they do not disappear OR that I have to subscribe to Bluprint to be able to access my craftsy classes. I have learned so much from them
I’m surprised not to see some comment on this email sent out by Bluprint yesterday.
https://link.news.mybluprint.com/view/592f4b1c99964a62278bc00799bb7.1bob/6816a3f5
1) Right now EVERYTHING is FREE to view on Bluprint – and it’s not just the trailers for courses but the ENTIRE class – so if you’ve been hesitating on any Craftsy class now is your chance to go see more of it. Or if you have the time you could watch the whole thing! I’m not sure how long this will last for – it’s Jan 2 so maybe until Jan 8th?!? You need to be logged in to do this. 2) Not all of the Craftsy classes will be available in their membership service. Some you will cost extra. This I found out by messaging Bluprint on Facebook. I’m thinking the more expensive and popular Craftsy classes will remain extra?!? I asked them how I can tell which are included and which can’t but haven’t heard back yet. 3) To see classes you bought through Craftsy in Bluprint you need to go to your “Forever Library” not your “Library” – scroll down on the menu on the left to see this option once you are logged in. It’s confusing because “Library” is at the top of the list and you don’t think to scroll down.
Just till the 8th, Kathy. See my link in the post above yours.
BluPrint is a glorified YouTube!!!
I’ve been a loyal Craftsy customer since 2011. And have learned to sew and knit from beginner to advanced, while having babies and working full time. I especially loved the instructor interaction. This is what distinguished Craftsy from YouTube in my opinion. I recently took advantage of a reduced cost 1yr subscription to Bluprint to learn machine embroidery. It has been a sheer DISAPPOINTMENT.
1. They took a single discipline like machine embroidery and then broke it down into a class on stabilizers, another on threads, another on hoops, monograms, etc.
2. There is NO instructor help. – when I inquired with customer service. They told me the platform relies on the “community of classmates”. Again, a glorified YouTube. If I wanted random people to tell me how to do something, I’d have gone to YouTube.
In the end, it’s value is only in the limited content and high quality production. Neither of which is unique or different.
I hate big business and mega conglomerates like NBC. It destroys all that’s good in America. I long for the days of niche start ups with good ideas, great execution and innovative design. Oh well, Craftsy, we had a nice run.
I haven’t read everything but I was wondering if the classes I’ve purchased will still be there for me to use?
Yes.
I just wanted to clarify about the instructor answering questions on the new platform. If you BUY the class outright, as you did under the old Craftsy system, then your instructor gets notified when you ask a question and should jump in and answer it for you as soon as they can. But if you watch the class as part of your subscription to BluPrint and ask a question, because there is no instructor participation under BluPrint, the instructor doesn’t even see your question and won’t know that you have asked one.
I feel so bad about this. I really don’t want students to think I am ignoring them because that reflects badly on me. But I can’t see the questions to be able to answer them. I don’t think this has been made clear to BluPrint subscribers who would have been used to being able to get help from the instructor under the original Craftsy platform.
What a farce. You can’t count on anything anymore. Fundamental to the pitch on every class I bought was the ability to interact with the instructor. Any class which has been archived or retired and no longer offers this is a class I have been sold under false pretenses. I’m disgusted. Class action suit anyone?
Hi,
I complained to bluprint about this, that some instructors gave no answers to questions being asked, in some of my classes and quoted them as saying it was exactly as before. I kept getting answers completely ignoring the facts. And sending me the small print of the agreement….
Craftsy used to be wonderful and I have been watching their classes since 2012. Whenever there was a major problem they would give you 1 or 2 free classes to make up for the aggrevation. They were prompt and courteous. Bluprint is a total disappointment. I’m so sorry to hear about how they are swindling their instructors. They are also doing the same thing to their customers. During the month of December, I was bombarded with emails from Bluprint for their special of either a year for $79.99 or 1 month form $7.99 which would include a free class that you could have for life. I decided to sign up for 1 month and try it. I did this on the last day of the sale which was December 31, 2018. They sent me an email that day saying the following:
Hello,
Thank you for joining Bluprint!
To redeem your free Craftsy class, please head to Craftsy.com. Listed below is your coupon code. You have until March 31, 2019 to put it to use, so take your time and pick your favorite.
Your coupon code:
OWNFOREVER1
To take advantage of your Craftsy coupon, sign in to Craftsy.com with your Bluprint email address and password. Ready, Set, Go!
Questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to our Customer Support team here.
Happy making,
The Bluprint Team
My subscription ended around noon time on January 31, 2019 and when I got home from work I decided to use my coupon for Laura Nelkin’s class on Shawls. I put the class in my cart, used my coupon code and was told that it was no longer valid. Since you can’t call Craftsy/Bluprint, I waited for the next day to do a chat. I was told by the chat attendant that I had to get the class while I was still subscribed to Bluprint. I told him that the email said that the coupon was good until March 31, 2019. He told me that it’s Bluprint’s policy not to give you the class if you no longer subscribe and he said it was in the email at the very bottom. When I looked further at this email and scrolled beyond the body of the email and below the word Blueprint and their address, you could finally see this in very small print hidden away from view. They refused to budge on this. I told them that this was very dishonest because they should have informed customers of this policy in the body of the email they sent with the coupon code as well as in the original sale offer. Had I known this, I would have signed up a few hours earlier before the subscription ended. The old Craftsy never would have done something this deceitful and disingenuous. I’m hoping that someone knows how I can get the word out about this to others so they don’t fall into the same trap.
I keep trying to watch classes but the video streaming is horrible now! A spinning circle in the middle of the screen. Chat just makes up stuff trying to end the chat. They know the problem. It is horrible trying to watch a class now and I’ve spent thousands of dollars w/Craftsy. Never now that it is Bluprint. But what good are my classes when I am so frustrated to watch? Terrible! I go to YouTube to try to learn what I need now.
Vicki, That maybe the fault of your service provider. Also what browser are you using? I used to have streaming problems using Firefox. Craftsy support told me to use only Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and I haven’t had a problem streaming since then.
I did a month trial run on Bluprint. I didn’t care for it–too busy. I couldn’t find what I wanted. I never had that problem on Craftsy.
So a couple of days ago I received this email asking me to come back. I could have the yearly subscription for $10 off, (69.99 instead of 79.99) and over the year I would receive coupons for 12 free “own forever” classes. That was worth just the free classes, right?
But I already own A LOT of classes, so I decided to look and see if there was anything I might want.
So I looked. That’s when I saw that Bluprint is selling classes for $7.99 plus a free month of Bluprint! Is this permanent? Or just a quick gimmick thing?
BTW, thanks for explaining all this. I had wondered what had happened to my beloved Craftsy. Now I know – she was murdered.
I am an avid Craftsy/Bluprint user. I LOVE the OLDER classes as they went into great detail that helped me greatly improve my skills (sewing). I am not a fan of the watered down version of some newer classes – it’s like they are designed for people with little to no attention span. Masters who shared their love and expertise, to the finest detail, is what brought me to Craftsy. I hope they don’t dilute. If they do, agree with other comments – we might as well head back to YouTube! Very surprised to hear if they retire a class, we don’t have access anymore? Why call it a library? These were “books”/resources I wanted to keep forever!
This long long list of comments does not include the plight of the Craftsy “designers” of which I am (was) one. If any of them have commented, I missed the narrative, as I finally got worn out with the long list of instructors who are commenting.
I am extremely upset with how I, as a designer who had a beautiful, popular shop on Craftsy, which has now been reduced to a one pattern, offering has been treated in this conversion to BluPrint. I, for years, had sold digital downloads of my floral applique wall quilt designs in the shop. A series of quilts called “The Silk Garden” has suddenly become a photo of one pattern for sale and download. It is obvious that some method of looking at a shop to see what is selling was determined by either a computer program used as a robot to see what the last sale was, or some inept person sent to investigate sales, who looked at the one most recent purchase, made the decision to delete all other items. My anger is directed at the fact that the last sale in my shop happened to be a pattern that over time, proved to be one of the very lowest of sales and then the one that has sold 1000’s over the years and on an international basis was totally ignored. Also, a successful shop does not contain just one item with no other choices offered. I cannot believe the total lack of sense that apparently was used in making decisions in this upsetting conversion. I was told that to make up for the lack of variety now in my shop that customers will always have access to their prior purchases. What?? How many customers are going to return to repurchase the same pattern again unless they lost it in a flood or fire? Crazy thought processes made by inept planners.
As an instructor, for some reason my former login to answer questions for Melissa Watson, Palmer/Pletsch classes doesn’t work. Where can I get help?